Your assumption is entirely correct. Warped records (and non-concentric punched records) can produce high amplitube subsonic distortion. It can damage drivers if someone were negligent, particularly with smaller mid/bass drivers and high power amps. Use common sense which means turning down teh volume, or get a phono unit with a subsonic filter, or even buy an in-line subsonic filter. This might be your least expensive solution at this point. If you know the input resistance of your pre-amp (usually 47K or 50K ohms), the filter can be as simple as a series capacitor. Without getting into the math, a .1uf cap in series with a 50K input resistor should yield about a 30 Hz corner frequency. (Now, this is a simple analysis without all possible parameter considerations, so no crucifixions please);^) Any value between .1uf (about 30Hz) and .15uf (about 20Hz) would work, but keep in mind that the higher cap value allows more low frequency to pass. Good luck.